Month: February 2018

Vocation

When I double check the math
I am reminded
That I am better at adding words together

When I learn the science
My mind’s defiant
And prefers to know why sentences work

When I coax my soul to sing like a fiddle
I’m the victim of a riddle
What breaks without ever cracking first?

When I contemplate my religion
It’s easier with motorcycle engines
Though I hate getting my hands dirty

And when I sit isolated at my desk
The eye of a hurricane that has made a big mess
I start thinking again
Of double checking my math

Right to left is right

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Whimsical #3

So I start this new job
And I’m trying to do good work
Because this company took a chance on me
I try to be polite and professional
But I don’t really talk to anyone outside of my team
But I just started
So I have more than enough time to meet people on the other teams
I think I am at a good place
Something is odd today though
Because someone
I don’t know who
Is blocking my way to the bathroom
And that someone
Is wearing a turkey costume
And screaming GOBBLE GOBBLE!
Like bloody murder
That is not funny
I am not a fan of birds
And I am not a fan of someone trying to prevent me
From taking a bathroom break
So I sidestep the Kafka-esque freakshow
Without a word
And as I enter the bathroom
I am wondering
What did I get myself into here?

Chasing UFOs

I want to believe
In close encounters
Between strangers
That people can stare each other in the eyes
And find themselves missing time
Suddenly head-over-heels
Overwhelmed by what they feel
Mysteriously implanted in their hearts

They claim it starts by seeing lights in the sky
They feel compelled to follow
Not knowing why as if their lives were hollow
Prior to that point
Then later they meet their beloved
As if during encountered half-dreamings
Leading them to become believers
In love at first sightings

But most people are not abducted by what they feel
On a mysterious day when things happened
That could not be explained
A decisive event that seemed all too real

Instead of chasing fire in the heavens
People try to chase a living or other goals
While making acquaintances then
A fondness that warms pokes their souls

Or maybe a curiosity starts to tug
Getting the attention like flattened wheat fields
Before they are viewed from above
Crop circles and the revelations they yield

To begin I believe in the slow burner
Not absolute proof in the existence
Of a decisive love that has mysterious origins
Such fairy tales make me wince

I am skeptical of a Cupid armed with potions of devotion
And arrows that tie strangers to one another
Something milder drives us together like shoals of fish in the ocean
Because people start by taking small chances on each other

Until I know otherwise so my theory revise where
Head-over-heels won’t be a file to keep open
I’ll chase other truths out there with many more to spare
For I have plenty of paper and pens

The Devil warned me not to

You ask too many questions
You should just live your life carefree
And not ponder the whys of history
Do not replay what already happened
And second-guess how things could have been different

You are better than a dog
Do not savor the old bone that is a distinct memory
Just throw the marrow away!

Your talents are wasted sifting through the rubbish of your past
Like the old man with a detector looking for precious metals
The few trinkets you may find will not be worth your time
You can’t get rich off of nuggets that are only valuable to you

You can be free of that though
All you have to do
Is let go
Give it all up

Nevermind who you think is reading your words
It’s all in your head
No one is following you
You’re the only one whose eyes have gazed upon all you wrote
There is no future in your past
Give it up
I know you can do it!
Release your death grip on the sentences
And let each word slip through your fingers like grains of sand
To be returned to the earth

Poet, there are no answers to your foolish questions
No truth out there to be found
Your bard’s tale ended a long time ago

Introspection is a foolish notion
That only cowards afraid of living in the real world cling to
It is a stuffed animal a child clutches even though
It is tattered beyond recognition and should be thrown away

Just live your life as it was
Ride your motorcycles
Play your videogames
Sing your songs as you strum your ukulele
Go to work and do a good job
So that you may finally get a good night’s sleep
Run your miles like no one else can
Because in the end that is all that matters

There is no value in alternate timelines or realities concocted by your clever mind
Rhyme and verse are cursed nowadays and have no place
Imagination is useless unless it produces technology
Art for art’s sake is a mistake
No one recalls how to properly read prose and poetry
So don’t bother trying to write and speak it
Even with your fingers crossed what you say
Will sound all tongue-tied to those few capable of listening

You are a dying breed, Poet
You just don’t know it yet
And when you realize that
Finally burning your beloved quill and scroll
I will always be there to tell you
I told you so…